Waterbury Politics

MANIFESTO

Ah, yes. From the delightful town that brought us Philip (The Pedophile) Giordano and Joseph (The Graftman) Santopietro, we now have Louis (The Threatener) DeLuca. This would easily be one of the most amusing state political stories since the heyday of you-know-who (another Waterbury politico, needless to say) if it weren't so sordid.

To make a long story short,

Chastened state Senate Minority Leader Louis DeLuca pleaded guilty to threatening Monday and was given a suspended sentenced after apologizing for asking an alleged mob associate to intervene in what DeLuca has called an abusive relationship between his granddaughter and her husband.

DeLuca—who is one of the state's true political Neanderthals—apparently asked known racketeer Jimmy (The Garbageman) Galante (amazingly, not from Waterbury) to "talk to" one James Colella, who he thought was abusing his granddaughter. Apparently, the colloquy never occurred.

What's got state denizens scratching their heads is why DeLuca would feel it necessary to bring Galante into the episode. I mean, let's face it, DeLuca has a certain amount of pull; certainly he could have gotten local police to investigate this situation to his satisfaction.

Meanwhile, his grandson-in-law isn't exactly taking a conciliatory attitude in all of this:

The 40-year-old Colella announced that he is "100 percent Sicilian" and not afraid of anyone, including Danbury garbage executive James Galante, who allegedly offered to have Colella slapped around to stop any abuse.

"Do I look like I'm afraid of anyone?" the 5-foot-5 Colella asked, sounding as tough as is perhaps possible when surrounded by news microphones. "It would have been a mistake if anyone ever came to my house. As far as anyone going to see me - Mr. Galante or anyone else - just make sure they bring a lot of bullets."

Hoo boy.

Another repercussion to the story is that state Republicans certainly don't think that DeLuca should do anything so drastic as resign. Apparently, since he's already demonstrated he's a slimeball, there's no need to do anything ethical at this late date.